Path 2

Path 2

Our 10 Best: Indian Restaurants

August 21, 2009

The glory of Indian food is its infinite variety. Think about it. An enormous region–we’re including Pakistan and Bangladesh–with cultures that go back thousands of years, including influences from foreign invaders as diverse as the Mughals, the Portuguese, and the English. Food from almost every corner of the globe, tweaked over the years to become Indian. And in India, each group has a sub-group and each sub-group has a sub-group, like a never-ending set of Russian dolls. And everyone, of course, has their food.

Although many parts of the country still have to content themselves with nothing but saag paneer, in New York, we can munch on everything from the simple daal and chapatis that many Indians eat everyday; fat-dripping, grilled kabobs; dosas so long and teetering that they’re almost space-age; awesomely unhealthy Indian-Chinese dishes; and biryanis so deluxe that they boggle the mind. And don’t forget the snacks! Crunchy, tangy-spicy chaats; pakoras grabbed from Punjabi hole-in-the-walls; lassis and kulfi; Gujarati chickpea cakes topped with mustard seeds; and English tea-time sandwiches stuffed with spiced paneer.

For Our 10 Best Indian Restaurants, we included all the South Asian countries that were one before partition: Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

The pulled goat at Aamchi Pao is nothing to shake a stick at. But will it make the top 10?

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Newcomer Southern Spice, where you can slurp this yogurt-based drink, blew everyone away this year. Still, our love for Mumbai Xpress' completely perfect street food won out. (For those of you who were at Choice Eats--Mumbai Xpress was not on their game that day.)